I'm currently reading Jerry Kaplan's excellent book "Startup: a Silicon Valley adventure". In this book, Kaplan, founder and CEO of GO Corp., details the founding, financing and eventual demise of his highly innovative company, including the development and workings of their product. What's so surprising about this book is just how timeless it really is - the names and products may have changed, but the business practices and company attitudes surely haven't.

Underlying your position is the assumption that ultimately the reason that people buy Apple products with such enthusiasm is based on some sort of delusional or manipulated basis rather than the fact that Apple simply make things that people, for totally rational reasons, find more attractive than their competitors products.

Aren't many Apple fans doing the same thing, though, when it comes to Android? I can't count how many times I've heard Apple fans, from Gruber to random commenters and people like you, state that the only reason people buy Android phones is because carriers market them so heavily, "rather than the fact that Google/OEMs simply make things that people, for totally rational reasons, find more attractive than their competitors products".

See how this works?

Just to be sure: both positions are wrong. People buy Apple because Apple makes good products AND because they have good marketing - the same reasons they buy
Android.

It's late and I have go some where so uber short response. I think sales channels do matter - sales channels are one of the differences between the phone and tablet market and between the device and the PC market. There is lot's of evidence, for example, that WP7 handsets have suffered from lack of love amongst carrier sales people. I think a lot of people buy Android because they prefer them but I also think some (how many?) buy them because they go to their usual phone shop and say I want to upgrade and get shown a phone and buy it. The role, weight and importance of sales channels in the device/phone market is a very, very interesting topic and one worth exploring in some depth at some point (hint: do an article on it Thom!). Right - off to the pub!!